Winding device for a cable, rope or the like

ABSTRACT

Winding device, for instance for an electric cable, consisting of a storing barrel for the cable, driving machinery for the barrel and guiding means for the cable located on a traverser arranged to be displaceable with respect to the axle of the barrel and resting on two downwardly projecting supporting arms admitting a free passage between the arms when the barrel has been removed from the arms.

United States Patent Skalleberg [451 Aug. 29, 1972 [54] WINDING DEVICE FOR A CABLE,

ROPE OR THE LIKE [72] Inventor: Oystein Gunnar Skalleberg, Jakobsberg, Sweden [73] Assignee: Mekanomatik AB, Vallingby, Sweden 22 Filed: Dec.15,l969 21 Appl.No.: 884,898

I110] l orelgn Application Priority Data Dec. 16, 1968 Sweden ..17212/68 [52] US. Cl. ..242/54 R, 242/ 158.4

[51] Int. Cl.....B65h 75/34, B65h 57/28, H02g 11/02 [58] Field of Search ..242/54, 85, 86, 86.5, 86.61, 242/86.8,117,157,157.1,158,158.1, 158.2,158.3,158.4,158.5

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,962,670 6/1934 Labora ..242/ 158.2

2,494,003 1/1950 Russ ..242/158.3

2,641,413 6/1953 Bruestle ..242/54 2,652,630 9/1953 Niland ..242/54 X 2,660,382 11/1953 Wilson ..252/158 2,904,284 9/1959 Newsom ..242/158 2,998,692 9/1961 Garner ..242/158.3 X

FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 1,022,069 3/1966 Great Britain ..242/ 158 392,653 10/1965 Switzerland Primary l5xaminerWerner H. Schroeder Attorney--Sughruc, Rothwcll, Mion, Zinn & Macpcak 5 7] ABSTRACT Winding device, for instance for an electric cable, consisting of a storing barrel for the cable, driving machinery for the barrel and guiding means for the cable located on a traverser arranged to be displaceable with respect to the axle of the barrel and resting on two downwardly projecting supporting arms admitting a free passage between the arms when the barrel has been removed from the arms.

6 Claims, 1 Drawing Figure WINDING DEVICE FOR A CABLE, ROPE OR THE LIKE 1. Field of the Invention The invention relates to a winding device for a cable, rope or the like, which device is intended to wind up automatically the cable etc. on a .barrel preferably in direct connection with the manufacture of said cable etc.

2. Description of the Prior Art By automatic winding of a cable, rope or the like on a barrel a winding device is usually arranged in connection with the manufacture of the cable etc. which device usually comprises a rotatable barrel and a guiding means or a spreader for the cable etc. The guiding means is arranged to be displaced along the barrel in a plane parallel with the rotating axle of said barrel and is intended to guide the cable in such a manner that the cable is kept on the barrel in layers close to each other, which successively put layer after layer above each other in an increasing diameter.

These known devices, however, suffer from the drawback that the cable etc. is exposed to a break at the guiding means, which especially when treating a lead-covered electric cable may result in a great risk for damaging said cable. Such a break does not only involve a risk for damaging the cable but will also involvethe disadvantage that a certain bending will remain in the cable resulting in that the rolling up on the barrel will not be in form of closely adjacent to each other resting layers. The rolled cable may thereforedepending on an occurring pulling effect on the cable or owing to its own weight-sink between two layers of an underlying layer and thus cause an uneven rolling up of the cable. This may result when layers being earlier rolled up may be displaced, so that they will rest at the side of or even outside of layers later rolled up. By the unrolling of a cable from such a barrel ruptures may easily occur in the cable.

This drawback can to a certain degree be eliminated by arranging the winding device and also the guiding means at a relatively great distance from the cable manufacturing device. By doing so the breaking angle for the cable at the guiding means will decrease, but such an arrangement is space consuming. i

In order to try to eliminate said drawbacks, winding devices have been arranged on rails or the like in such a manner, that the whole barrel during the rolling up of the cable etc. is caused to move forwards and backwards while the guiding means is kept still with respect to the device from which the cable is fed for rolling up on the barrel. In this way the cable may be transported substantially without any break from the cabling machine to the barrel for rolling up. Such an arrangement of a winding device, however, necessitates great modifications or even changes in the spaces, where the winding device is to be erected. Furthermore, the winding devices will occupy a large floor space. Still other disadvantages which are involved in devices of this kind are the dirtying of both machine and rails by dust originating from the cable, from cooling liquids, lubricating oils etc. The cleansing of both machine and rails is time consuming and is diflicult owing to the fact that the rail usually is placed in the workshop floor.

When winding a cable from a continuous cable manufacturing process it is desirable that the barrel on which the cable is rolled up can be exchanged rapidly for an empty one, so that the manufacture of the cable can continue without any interruption or with shortest possible interruption. To gain this result two winding devices are commonly arranged side by side which devices are kept running alternatively. Shortly before the cable is rolled fully on one barrel it is cut ofi' at some distance from the barrel and is changed over to an empty barrel of the other winding device. Such an arrangement, however, makes it necessary to place the winding devices at a relatively great distance from, for instance, the cabling machine so that the cable is not exposed to too great a break when the cable must be moved laterally, alternatively in two directions forming a certain angle with each other. Thus also in this case there is the need for a large space for the plant.

In known arrangements for the cable winding the exchange of a full barrel for an empty one is a rather time consuming work owing to the construction and the function of said machinery. Thus a full barrel v after it has been disengaged from the winding machine-must be transported backwards in the direction from the cabling machine and then laterally, before an empty barrel can be inserted in the winding device.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has for its object to eliminate theabove mentioned drawbacks and consists partly of a guiding means for the cable etc., partly a means for the supporting of a barrel intended for the cable etc. and suitably being arranged displaceable with respect to said guiding means and further comprising a driving machinery and is mainly characterized in that the driving machinery is arranged on a traverser or the like suitably being displaceably arranged in the axial direction of said barrel, the means for the support of the barrel suitably consisting of two supporting arms projecting downwards from the traverser, said supporting arms in their turn supporting center tapers or the like for the barrel due to which fact the floor space will be practically free so that the winding device will admit a free passage between the supporting arms when the barrel has been removed from said arms.

The traverser may either be arranged between two posts intended to be rigidly mounted on the ground, for instance on the workshop floor or on beams in the ceiling of the workshop.

The supporting arms are suitably arranged in such a manner, that they partly are vertically adjustable and partly the mutual distance between them is variable independent of the actual position of the traverser. The adjustment of the arms can be accomplished by conventional apparatus such as Swiss Pat. No. 392,653 and US. Pat. No. 2,652,630. Thanks to this, the barrels can be inserted and demounted from the winding device anywhere within the action field of said traverser which fact will considerably fascilitate the inserting and demounting work for the barrel especially for large and heavy barrels. In connection with this it may be suitable to arrange the transfer of movement in such a manner that a displacement of the supporting arms with respect to each other can take place at the same time as a displacement of the entire traverser takes place. The US. Pat. Nos. 2,855,163 and 3,448,963 are illustrative of barrel and the guiding means will be too great for bar-.

rels of small diameters or too small for barrels having large diameters. This arrangement of the guiding means also provides the possibility that said guiding means in an easy manner may be removed from the area in front of the barrel by which step the space between the supporting arms will be entirely free for passage when the barrel is removed.

In order to make possible a reversing of the moving direction of the traverser it is proposed in accordance with the invention that a sensing element is arranged together with the guiding means in such a manner, that when one of the flanges of the barrel comes into contact with said element there will occur an impulse for the driving machinery of the traverser for the reversing of the moving direction of same.

The winding device according to the invention is-in a manner known per sesuitably provided with a speed control for adapting the number of revolutions of the barrel to the number of cable layers rolled on said barrel. Furthermore, the speed of the traverser is adjustable for suiting same partly to different cable diameters and partly to diiferent cable feed speed. To eliminate any unfavorable action on the cable in form of a break of same as a consequence of a possibly wrong adjustment of the traverser speed the guiding means is furthermore provided with a torque sensing element having the function that if there is a tendency of break'in the cable in the guiding means the feed speed will be corrected.

In order to make possible an easy maneuvering of the winding device it is proposed,in accordance with the invention, that the maneuvering means for the driving machinery be arranged hanging down from an arm projecting from the traverser and being turnable in a substantially horizontal plane.

A winding device according to the invention only requires a small floor surface and will make possible the winding of a cable, rope or the like on a barrel without the risk for any break of the cable etc. even if the winding device is arranged at a small distance from a cabling machine. Furthermore, the winding device will result in a free passage between the supporting arms when the barrel is not mounted in the. winding device. This makes it possible to arrange several winding devices in a row after each other for a rapid transferring of the cable etc. from one full barrel in one winding device to an empty barrel of another. winding device without any necessity to move the cable laterally with a break of same as a consequence. Such a change between two winding devices can furthermore take place without any stop of the cabling machine. A barrel filled with cable etc. in a winding device may without any difficulties rapidly and easily be exchanged for an empty barrel, when the full barrel can be moved from the winding machine in a desired direction while an empty barrel can be inserted from the opposite direction.

The invention also makes it possible when replanning workshop spaces to arrange beams in the ceiling of said workshop for carrying one or more traverser-s by which arrangement the floor space can be kept free from winding devices. During periods when the cabling and rolling up of same on barrels does not take place, the spaces may, thanks to this, be utilized for other purposes. Of course the winding machine may also be used for the unrolling of a cable etc. from a barrel.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The FIGURE discloses a perspective view of the present invention.

An embodiment of the invention will now be closer described with reference to the attached drawing.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The FIGURE shows a winding device consisting of a traverser 6 supported by two posts 8, said traverser carrying a driving machinery 5. Two downwards projecting carrying arms 3 are arranged on the traverser 6, said arms being equipped with centertapers 7 turned to face each other and intended to be inserted in a center hole in a barrel 4, for receiving for instance an electric cable 1. The height position of said center tapers 7 is changeable by having made the arms 3 vertically adjustable. The distance between the tapers 7 may furthermore be varied for suiting a different barrel length by arranging the arms 3 displacable with respect to each other;

By means of a cable guiding means 2 the cable is caused to be rolled on the barrel in tightly wound layers under the influence of the rotation movement of the barrel. The cable guiding means 2 is for this purpose arranged on link arms 9 in such a manner, that it can partly be displaced parallelly with respect to itself for adjusting the distance between the cable guiding means 2 and the shaft of the barrel 4, and by this arrangement the winding device may be suited to different barrel diameters and the device further may be lifted up so much that a free passage between the carrying arms 3 may be obtained when the barrel 4 is removed from the winding device.

All the maneuvering of the cable winding device is carried out by means of a maneuvering panel 11, which is arranged hanging down from an arm 10 tumably fastened to the traverser 6. The maneuvering may thus be carried out from any desired place in the vicinity of the winding device whereby all maneuvering operations may be carefully supervised while being carried out. This is of course advantageously above all in connection with the insertion of a new barrel when the center tapers 7 by means of vertical as well as horizontal movements are to be inserted in the center hole of said barrel.

All means and elements for the driving of the traverser 6, the barrel 4 and the supporting arms 3 are built into said traverser 6. In this manner they will effectively be protected from damage and detoriation.

Although the invention above has been described with reference to one embodiment of same, the invention may be varied within the scope of the attached claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In a winding device for winding a cable or the like on a barrel .having side flanges comprising frame means including a pair of parallel horizontal bars;

transverser means mounted on the bars including a motor for moving the transverser means along the bars;

a pair of supporting arms vertically adjustable, ex-

tending down from the transverser, at least one of the supporting arms being mounted so that it is adjustable along the horizontal plane with respect to the other supporting arm to accommodate barrels of varying size;

a pair of center holders, one mounted on each supporting arm for pivotably supporting the barrel;

means for rotating the barrel on the center holders;

guiding means for directing cable onto the barrel supported on the bars and mounted to permit movement in a direction perpendicular to the axis of the barrel;

sensing means mounted on the guiding means for contacting the flanges of the barrel and generating a signal which controls the motor and direction of the transverser means whereby barrels of different sizes can wind cable.

2. In the winding device of claim 1, the frame means further including two posts adapted to be rigidly mounted in a supporting surface, and permitting a barrel to be introduced from either the front or back.

3. In the winding device of claim 1, the guiding means including link arms pivotably mounted on the bars.

4. In the winding device of claim 3, further including control means for controlling the operation of the winding device including a control panel and a horizontally pivotable arm supporting the control panel.

5. In the winding device of claim 4, the guiding means further including a downwardly projecting bifurcated member supported by three link arms.

6. In the winding device of claim 5, the sensing means including at least one sensor mounted on the bifurcated member to contact at least one side flange of the barrel. 

1. In a winding device for winding a cable or the like on a barrel having side flanges comprising frame means including a pair of parallel horizontal bars; transverser means mounted on the bars including a motor for moving the transverser means along the bars; a pair of supporting arms vertically adjustable, extending down from the transverser, at least one of the supporting arms being mounted so that it is adjustable along the horizontal plane with respect to the other supporting arm to accommodate barrels of varying size; a pair of center holders, one mounted on each supporting arm for pivotably supporting the barrel; means for rotating the barrel on the center holders; guiding means for directing cable onto the barrel supported on the bars and mounted to permit movement in a direction perpendicular to the axis of the barrel; sensing means mounted on the guiding means for contacting the flanges of the barrel and generating a signal which controls the motor and direction of the transverser means whereby barrels of different sizes can wind cable.
 2. In the winding device of claim 1, the frame means further including two posts adapted to be rigidly mounted in a supporting surface, and permitting a barrel to be introduced from either the front or back.
 3. In the winding device of claim 1, the guiding means including link arms pivotably mounted on the bars.
 4. In the winding device of claim 3, further including control means for controlling the operation of the winding device including a control panel and a hoRizontally pivotable arm supporting the control panel.
 5. In the winding device of claim 4, the guiding means further including a downwardly projecting bifurcated member supported by three link arms.
 6. In the winding device of claim 5, the sensing means including at least one sensor mounted on the bifurcated member to contact at least one side flange of the barrel. 